The AFL-CIO is doing a GREAT job this summer, much better than the so-called surrogates in the Democratic Party are.

agreed with all of you, it's long overdue and great stuff

Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan....why not Florida?
or are they planning on sending the flyer there later?

that state is full of retirees; my mom can't get by without social security

Finally!

My roots are working class and I've favored this kind of campaigning since Gore versus Bush.

Yes, it is "class-based" campaigning, but does anyone have any doubt that that's what this election is all about, anyway?

Hit the Republicans hard with this, because these are the issues that are going to win the White House AND Capitol Hill for the Democrats.

Sorry to hijack, but has anyone read Joe Klein's bitch slap of McGoo this morning? Holy cow:

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/08/scholarship.html

Klein has had some sort of epiphany it appears. Go read it for yourself.

Hey, Greg.

Probably it's just me, but I got confused reading this article because of the headline. I read the headline, "Big Union Drops Tough Mailer...", to imply that they were NOT going to mail this one, and instead maybe replace it with something else. I had to read through the article twice before I realized that in fact this one IS the mailer going out.

Like I said, it's probably just me.

Of course, I also LOVE this piece. I'd like to see this get to every household in the country, and I'd like to see it get the attention of the cable chat shows. They NEVER talk about McCain's wealth, let alone his plans to gut Social Security.

-- ARG

From Andrew Sullivan's "Take Back the Campaign" contest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBfngOsvmA0&eurl=http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/

This is great.

oh, you can bet woof drops a nice chunk to keep that beard so neatly trimmed....

lol

Pretty good. However, it still will not matter until Obama makes this election about McCain. Like it or not, McCain comes across as qualified to be president. His much hyped war record and the "high road" compliments that he has received from other Democrats gets him just past the bar. McCain has followed the classic Republican tactic of smear. There is very little about the actual policies and then McCain just lies out of his a**. When will the Democrats catch on. The union certainly has.

Look, I want to see a higher tone in this election just like everyone else. But negative ads work. They have worked in the last two presidential election. Being nice is all good. However, you have to fight back against the media bias and negative advertising. There are legitimate issues as to veterans' issues, lobbyists, credibility and even intellect that need to be raised. Yes, they are negative but this election is about who is better fit to lead. You have to highlight the factors that militate against electing one just as much as the positives for our position.

Oh come on, Obama: The AFL-CIO is tantmount to a 527. Aren't you gonna call them off? Ya wouldn't want them to be too effective, now would you?

Now this is the kind of ad I want to see!!

That mailer is a beautiful thing. More like this, please.

My god, I'd given up hope that somebody on our side would have the balls and initiative to make this simple, elemental argument. The fact that the geniuses at the Obama campaign and/or the DNC didn't have this out within a week after Obama clinched is an indication of how incompetent these two groups are at retail politics, but the important thing is that it was done. Kudos to organized labor.

Doing this stuff is not hard, folks, and it's a target-rich environment out there. Maybe Obama should just fire Axelrod or whoever the dope is that's managing his communications and hire the AFL-CIO in his place.

And yes, the headline is completely misleading and should be changed.

AFL-CIO leaders, how well are YOU guys doing with all that money you forcibly take from your members?

It's about freaking time! Our side has wasted enough time not engaging them on the bulls*** Mccain has been spewing. How can he call Barack Obama an elitist with a straight face? Only an ugly smug never-been-off the government teat Republican would have the grapes to even attempt this line of attack. It is so profoundly insulting to our collective intelligence that it takes my breath away.

Now THAT's how you hit McCain for his lifestyle. Whoever put this one together should get a raise. It links McCain's wealth, his policies and his age together to form a devastating portrait of the old coot. Bravo, big union.

As usual, the GOPers will call it class warfare.

Drop is a common word in regard to sending out mailers. The direct mail department at the non-profit where I work has always used the term "drop" in regard to when a particular month's pieces went out.

Mailers dropped on Monday. Etc.

The reason the AFL can't solicit money directly is that it's illegal for unions to ask non-union members to give to their PACs (gotta love union-busting labor laws). Working America is the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, so you can become a member of Working America and support all the amazing political work they're doing to reach out to working class voters on pocketbook issues. They run one of the most effective canvass and mail operations in politics, and I would highly advocate giving to them.

It about time somebody brought McShames 'exotic life style.'

Point of order: My simple brain was confused by the repeated use of the word "dropping" the mailer. To me that sounded like they had plans to send it, but then dropped those plans.

Hey, I'm simple.

Otherwise, good for them. The message about McCain's wealth is totally fair game. The GOP has somehow made this issue off limits for far too long.

Game on! Ironic isn't?... that the GOP attack lines against Obama actually ring louder and truer against their own candidate.

Here's one they should use:

John McCain wants you to have his government funded Healthcare benefits, but can you afford it under his plan with the additional profits provided for the pharmaceutical companies? People's good health should not be compensated for corporate profits!

I'm in the direct mail business.
DROP merely means, to DROP THE MAILINGS AT THE POST OFFICE. WHEN YOU MAIL LOTS OF PIECES THAT ARE SORTED AND PRE-SORTED, THE POST OFFICE CALLS IT A DROP.

We need for all the working people's organizations to stand up and be counted! SHOW UP McCain's hypocrisy, he is a lying old fool with a Hitler complex. He is UNDOUBTEDLY complicit in this Russian/Georgian upheaval - and TGDSOBGWB KNEW about it in advance. Anyone seeing his smirk as he was interviewed in China about it could see he was ENJOYING having a secret. Gawd, the unplumbed slimy depths of TGDSOBGWB's feeble mind, his proud anti-intellectualism ("anybody who knows more than me is obviously an elitist pinko commie pedophile and probably gay as well") - how did we get to be a nation of morons? Why do the Rethugs GLORIFY ignorance and perversion? Why have they dedicated themselves to being the party of the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR? Why are they so virulently anti-humanist, taking money from hungry children and wounded soldiers to give to their corporate masters?? And what are we going to do to reverse this onslaught against the educated citizenry of our Beloved Country? DEMAND accountability, from everyone! R or D, I want to see REAL processes in place that will advance our rhetoric instead of stifling it in the name of the Lowest Common Denominators. Stand up and stand together, our very lives are at stake! Another term of this kind of blind pig-ignorant incompetence and it will be too late!

>>>where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?

It's time to TAKE BACK AMERICA